Welcome, SponsorOhana, and on behalf of a former plebe (I know, shocking news given my moniker
) thank you ahead of time for being a "refuge in the storm."
What I was looking for, in no particular order:
1. Home-cooked food, eaten like a human being. That meant I could look at my food while eating it. I could sit back in the chair. I could slouch (a little - habits!). Most of all, though, it meant I could have conversations, or not, and laugh.
2. Sleeping between sheets.
3. Just plain unplugging. Playing video games with my sponsor brothers, watching baseball or hockey with my sponsor dad, chopping veggies for buffet tacos with my sponsor mom and talking about life in the service (they were both USN).
Here's a great thread from three summers ago with multiple ideas for what people wanted, and suggestions for how you, sponsor family, can think about setting some boundaries that work for everyone. Mostly, though, we just appreciated the company and the opportunity to interact with people informally and not locked-up.